020510_SMARTGRID_CFW- Smart Meter. Dennis Arfmann takes laundry off his clothesline outside his home in Boulder, CO. He used to use 8500 Kilowatt hours per year, his Solar panels produce 5000. By using his Smart Meter Arfmann says he has taken his usage down to 3500 kilowatt hours per year and now sells the surplus to Excel Energy. He attributes his savings to unplugging his clothes dryer, changing primarily to LED lighting and updating to energy efficient appliances. (Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post.)

For two weeks now, Coloradans have been listening to a radio ad that claims their electric bills could increase by 80 percent if President Barack Obama’s new power-plant regulations go into effect.

After the ad flunked a truth test, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group asked the five Colorado radio stations airing the spot to pull the “false, misleading and deceptive advertisement.”

So far, that hasn’t happened — and the ad, which began running May 12, is scheduled to continue airing through June 22. The ad buy in Colorado is nearly $200,000.

That the National Mining Association chose Colorado as one of five states where it placed the ad shows once again the Centennial State’s role as a force when it comes to the intersection of energy and politics.

The association stands by its ad, which was awarded “Four Pinocchios” — or a “whopper” — by The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker.”

“Hear that? … That’s the sound of people opening their electric bills to discover they’ve nearly doubled. … An 80 percent cost hike? That’s something we better get used to if extreme new Obama administration power-plant regulations take effect,” the ad begins.

The 80 percent figure is based on administration testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Feb. 11. The ad-check story notes that the spot does not include later testimony, which changes the impact of that percentage.

“This is a case study of how a trade group takes a snippet of congressional testimony and twists it out of proportion for political purposes,” Fact Checker columnist Glenn Kessler concluded.

“If you fail to do so promptly, we will be forced to consider further action,” the resources group wrote.

The ad also is running in Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

“We stand by the ads,” said Nancy Gravatt, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association. “We feel it’s important not to suppress information, to at least make the public aware that these far-reaching regulations will have a cost impact for the consumer.”